Biography:
Dr. James Scarry went to Kent State University where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education with a concentration in social studies. Upon graduation he continued his education at Kent State, earning his Master’s Degree in Modern German History with a thesis on "Relations Among the Nazi Elite During World War II: Competition for Power and Succession" in 1986. For several years, Dr. Scarry worked as a substitute teacher and in retail management before deciding to pursue his doctorate in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations at Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio. He became Dr. Scarry in 1998 following the completion of his dissertation "The Berlin Crises of 1958 and 1961: Eisenhower, Kennedy and American Cold War Foreign Policy" which focused on the differing approaches of the two presidents to handling comparable challenges.

During the academic year of 2001-2002, Dr. Scarry taught on a Fulbright Grant at the University of Turku in Finland and traveled to Stockholm, Talinn, Riga, Saint Petersburg, and Berlin. After returning to the States, Dr. Scarry accepted a position as Assistant Professor of History at Shorter College in Rome, Georgia for four years. At Shorter Dr. Scarry was responsible for teaching most of the American History courses as well as coordinating the department’s senior thesis program, advising the History Club, Eta Pi Sigma, and directing the school’s museums and archives. He also initiated an annual symposium on topics of history and political science, which included topics such as the Holocaust and terrorism, and helped organize and lead a study abroad trip to Israel.

Since coming to Waldorf in 2009 as an assistant professor and chair of the History Department, Dr. Scarry has been active in teaching the World Civilizations sequence as well as a wide variety of upper division courses. Despite his teaching and administrative loads Scarry has continued studying and expanding his understanding of history. In 2011 he presented a paper at the Missouri Valley History Conference in Omaha titled “On the Front Lines of the Cold War: Iowans Reactions to Khrushchev’s Visit in 1959” and traveled to the United States Military Academy in New York to participate in the “West Point Summer Seminar in Military History” alongside scholars from across the United States, Turkey, Australia, the United Kingdom and Lithuania.

While not teaching, Dr. Scarry enjoys listening to a wide range of music from classical, jazz, folk, and rock. He also likes performing in the theatre and has appeared in shows such as “Carousel,” “Mame,” “HMS Pinafore,” “Come Blow Your Horn, “The Silver Whistle,” and in 2010 a student directed production of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” Other interests include photography, model building, woodworking and his dog, Dickens.